Rohan Smith reveals what he likes about Leeds Rhinos' Super League start and issues Leigh Leopards warning

Rhinos travel to Leigh Leopards tomorrow (Friday) having won two of their opening three matches, including an 18-10 success against 2023 league and Grand Final runners-up Catalans Dragons last week. Smith, though, feels there’s much more to come and assessing the early stages of the campaign, he said: “[It has been] steady.

“We’ve played in three significantly different conditions against three significantly different teams and we’ve found different ways to be competitive in each game. I like that, I don’t like the concept of you’ve got a limited way of winning.

“There has got to be different ways to win and I thought last week it was clearly our bravery with the ball, but also our commitment to defending our tryline. I really liked that. I think as a group we’ve shown some resilience and some toughness and we’ve shown patches of what we are capable of doing, but we are looking forward to starting again this week and rolling our sleeves up and getting stuck in over at Leigh.”

Rhinos will be without the suspended trio of James Bentley, James Donaldson and Sam Lisone and David Fusitu’a and Morgan Gannon remain on the long-term casualty list, but Mikolaj Oledzki and Derrell Olpherts are both back in contention following injury. Smith, who joined Leeds in May, 2022, said: “I don’t think we’ve had the first-choice 17 available since I’ve been here, for whatever reason - judiciary or injuries, but we are working towards that and getting closer to it.

“I am excited about what’s ahead, no doubt. There’s a lot of belief in our group and a lot of talent, but we are still new as a group. Some players are into their second year as a regular Rhinos player and there’s very few who’ve been part of the group for a long period of time. We are evolving and emerging; we are trying to accelerate that process as much as we can, but we will take it one week at a time while we are doing it.”

Leigh have a game in hand after their round two fixture against Wigan Warriors was postponed because of the World Club Challenge, but are yet to pick up a point and managed only three tries in defeats by Huddersfield Giants and St Helens. Their coach Adrian Lam has described Friday as a must-win game and Smith predicted Rhinos will be “certainly tested this week by some great attacking players”.

Leigh won both last season’s encounters and the Leeds boss warned: “They have played two really hard games; they have fought hard, scrapped hard. There’s been some things in both those that have influenced the flow of the game and perhaps the outcome so we are not looking at the results of those games.

“We have got a lot of respect for what Leigh have done as a club in a short period of time, Adrian is a quality coach and I think with [Edwin] Ipape and [John] Asiata not there it puts the ball in the hands of [Matt] Moylan and [Lachlan] Lam more.

“They are both very dangerous players, who we respect a lot. We are very conscious of doing our work in the middle of the field and getting stuck in, but also being very well prepared for their shift plays and their ability to combine on the edges.”